The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center serves as the primary health care provider for almost 130,000 veterans in southeast Texas. Veterans from around the country are referred to the MEDVAMC for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases. The MEDVAMC is home to a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic; Network Polytrauma Center; an award-winning Cardiac and General Surgery Program; Liver Transplant Center; VA Epilepsy and Cancer Centers of Excellence; VA Substance Abuse Disorder Quality Enhancement Research Initiative; Health Services Research & Development Center of Innovation; VA Rehabilitation Research of Excellence focusing on mild to moderate traumatic brain injury; Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center; and one of the VA’s six Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers. In late 2012, the MEDVAMC received official designation as a Kidney Transplant Center. Including the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Galveston, Houston, Katy, Lake Jackson, Lufkin, Richmond, Texas City, and Tomball, MEDVAMC outpatient clinics log more than a million outpatient visits annually.

Our mission is to support combat-wounded military service members, and surviving spouses of those killed in action, by offering programs that facilitate a successful transition to civilian life. Our programs include home donation, academic and employment assistance, as well as opportunities to develop life skills that are essential to achieving success.

OPERATION HELMET provides helmet upgrade kits free of charge to troops in Afghanistan and other dangerous areas, as well as to those ordered to deploy in the near future. These helmet upgrades do four primary things: Protection – Shock-absorbing pads keep the helmet from slapping the skull when hit with blast forces, fragments, or being tumbled along the ground or inside a vehicle. Keeps blast-wave from transmitting flexure of the Kevlar shell directly to the skull via too-stiff pads. This decreases the chance of brain injury from IED’s, bombs, RPG’s, vehicle accidents, falls, etc. Comfort – If it is comfortable, it will stay on troop’s head longer and more often. Stability – Keeps the helmet firmly on the head and out of the eyes. Durability – Doesn’t need to be replaced after one month of wear – hard to do when at a Combat Outpost or Forward Operating Base an eternity from a logistics supply point.